Hostile Environment

How Activist Judges Threaten Our Air, Water, and Land

In the past decade, several federal judges have placed their own political agenda above the clear mandates of our environmental laws. Ignoring congressional statutes and legal precedent, they have put new hurdles in the way of environmental regulators and closed courthouse doors to citizens who would sue polluters. This July 2001 NRDC report tracks these developments, and charges that appointing new activist judges to the bench could signal a death sentence for many environmental protections.